I'm not supposed to take an oath," Board
President Phil Mendelson said angrily during a DCPS hearing
Friday, "but that's kind of BS? I mean it?"
Only a politician who is known
as "nitpicky" can be so angry at the issue of boring trade, which
was the subject of a special public meeting convened by
the president last week. Look below the well-thought-out side of
these words, and you'll see some good reasons why
Mendelson's laid-back attitude has kept so many listeners in the castle.
Mendelson's attack stems from his recent findings that DC
public school officials have been bypassing the Board's review
process for big deals for at least the past few years. DC
companies are expected to submit any contract worth $1
million or more to the Board for approval before they execute it
(a process that is usually the process for all or the
most important and politics), it seems that DCPS
has not done so. in about 13 separate cases since
January 2021, according to school system information provided to
Mendelson. That's about $113 million in spending that lawmakers have
yet to review, but DCPS has already begun awarding the
agency before sending a contract to the Council. "As someone
who has been involved in the procurement process at DCPS, I know that
sometimes things can happen," said At-Large Board Member Christina
Henderson. "But as for the volume of these contracts
being handed back, I think there's something else going
on here."
DCPS Superintendent Lewis
Ferebee called the errors "unacceptable" and "disturbing" and
promised an internal review into the school procurement
process. But this kind of struggle between leaders and legislators is
not really new; Ward 4 council member Janeese Lewis George said in a letter to
colleagues earlier this month that two businesses under her committee's jurisdiction
have done the same, calling it "a lack of leadership
for a major project." " of the "prolonged
problem" in the region. Administration. But the content of
some of the contracts blocked by DCPS is what angered Mendelson, taking
the matter more than Wilson's domestic power struggle.
Two of the contracts, valued at more than $42 million, are for
companies that provide food services for DCPS: SodexoMagic and DC Central
Kitchen. DCPS parents and DC politicians will remember that this provider took
over the administration in 2016 following a minor scandal related
to the school restaurant contract - the former
superintendent of the school came to an end suddenly in a deal with
the city following a $19 million defamation scandal.
Legislators felt they were forced to accept a contract with
SodexoMagic, among others, to avoid disrupting food for 100
public schools, although they were concerned about the company's history. Giant
corporation Sodexo, which founded SodexoMagic with Magic Food
Provisions, has history in this space after agreeing to a $20 million
settlement in 2010 to pay 20 New York City schools for food services.
D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson issued a report in 2016 recommending that
DCPS strengthen its rehabilitation program to avoid these
types of issues in the future, but the current structure has not changed much
since then. Parents have raised various complaints about the quality of SodexoMagic's food,
with some saying the food served at the school on the east side of the
Anacostia River is "unrecognizable". Mendelson brought the
same thing home on Friday, bringing three different SodexoMagic meat
dishes that he thought were a combination of "meatless" and "meatless".
All of this to say that Mendelson and other lawmakers want to review
these contracts before DCPS reviews them. The kids are now on the
SodexoMagic diet until at least July. "That doesn't mean
the contract is valid and the company's management authority
is respected here," Mendelson said.
Ferebee said this was all just confusion on the part of DCPS officials, not
malicious intent. The school system is expected to award these food contracts in
late 2020 before they expire in June 2022. The pandemic is delaying the process,
so DCPS chose to give the vendors another year of work, from June
2023. Officials are preparing to issue a new contract in the coming months
and they plan to send out requests for a one-year extension
to the council. at the beginning, but some inaccuracies of the
company delayed the process until mid-December. , Ferebe said.
The council only has the power
to force Bowser's representatives to change their ways, showing how hard it
can be to ask the administration to do something it doesn't want
to do. Mendelson and Ferebee are fighting a similar battle over
the chancellor's failure to comply with the recently introduced
rules governing school budgets. The contract kerfuffle comes as
the Council is busy considering various bills to eliminate
DCPS's independent procurement authority in favor of outsourcing
contracting and local procurement. This will look like a daring
choice for lawmakers if these "steps" persist. "While I
understand that the concerns raised today are troubling... I
don't want to lose our ability to be gentle and sensitive and to respond
to urgent needs," Ferebee said, reading the writing on the
wall. . "I hope that the Board will reconsider this
decision, as we believe that in the end it could damage the facilities, goods
and services that the school needs to serve students
or families.
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